Following its premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, within the Un Certain Regard category, a selection of curated films separate from the official competition for the Palme d’Or, Urchin, the directorial debut of British actor Harris Dickinson (The Iron Claw, Triangle Of Sadness) has unveiled its associated trailer. Though having garnered much respect as a working actor, Dickinson himself is not a part of the film’s main cast. Instead, it features a varied selection of talents. Starring are Frank Dillane, the son of thespian, Stephen Dillane (Game Of Thrones), and who has obtained over 15 years worth of acting experience, and comparative newcomer Megan Northam (The Passengers of the Night), a French actress. Supplementing the cast are young actors Karyna Khymchuk and Shonagh Marie, and veteran Egyptian actor Amr Waked (famed for international productions such as Syriana). The cast Dickinson assembled buoys an globalist flavor, and seems to set the film as a showcase for a variety of actors across different planes of career success and stardom.

Accordingly, the film is stated to be “raw and absurd,” befitting the young talent, both in-front of and behind the camera. The film’s logline details of a vagabond, a “rough sleeper” in British parlance and his self-destructive lifestyle. Narratively, the film sounds as to invite comparisons to British auteur Mike Leigh’s classic film Naked (1993), which similarly portrayed an acerbic and morose man (played by David Thewlis) on the throes of a weary life. Together with the descriptive hints of what the film’s style is to be, it is possible that Dickinson’s film will enter a tradition of other directorial debuts by prominent English actors. Among them are The War Zone by Tim Roth, Nil By Mouth by Gary Oldman, and Tyrannosaur by Paddy Considine. All of these films feature their directors immersing the audience into naturalistic worlds of dysfunctional characters and bracing subject matter without any sanitation.

At Cannes, Urchin was the recipient of the FIPRESCI Prize (awarded to Dickinson) and the Un Certain Regard Best Actor Prize for Frank Dillane. The film will be distributed in America by 1-2 Special and in the UK and Ireland by Picturehouse Entertainment. Screenings in Los Angeles will commence in the middle of September, while it will be theatrically released in the United Kingdom on October 3.